eAssessment Business Case
Introduction
Wikipedia provides the following definition of a business case:
A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also sometimes come in the form of a short verbal argument or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, whenever resources such as money or effort are consumed, they should be in support of a specific business need. An example could be that a software upgrade might improve system performance, but the "business case" is that better performance would improve customer satisfaction, require less task processing time, or reduce system maintenance costs. A compelling business case adequately captures both the quantifiable and unquantifiable characteristics of a proposed project.[1]
This document provides a business case template that is used extensively at the University of Exeter for all types of project. It covers the background, objectives, scope, timings and costs as well as inter-dependencies with other projects.
It is particularly suitable for eAssessment as (particularly in the current climate) financial investment must be able to demonstrate a clear need and quantifiable results.
Apart from this introduction, the document is structured as a formal business case providing questions to consider followed by specific content relating to an eAssessment project.
It is anticipated that institutions will ‘pick and mix’ the sections and content that are relevant to their situation.
1. Background
What is the background to this proposal? What is the trigger that prompted you to create this proposal or the business need(s) that will be met by the completion of the project?
The proposal was triggered by NSS scores on assessment and feedback together withstudent expectations of better technology by students for use of technology and the drive for sustainability
Describe the approach you intend to take and the reasons you have chosen this approach.
As there is no single off-the-shelf product available, the recommended approach is to build on the existing relationship with hosting partners ULCC and integrating the solution with university’s Moodle VLE. This presents a cost effective solution based on open source software with opportunities for sharing development costs with other HEIs
What type of project is it - procurement/implementation or development?
This is a development project
What priority does the proposal have? (Refer to the Project Prioritisation table at Appendix A) which allows project to be easily compared in terms of institutional drivers.
See appendix A. eAssessement priorities are underlined. This table will be used by the project approval group to prioritise funding and resource.
It is beneficial if the proposal is aligned to or supports one or more of the University's metrics or the Sponsor's Business Unit's strategy.
This proposal clearly aligns with the University Student satisfaction metric
What is the business need?
The University needs to respond to the ‘9K environment.’eAssessment will reduce student printing costs, offer a convenient submission process andsupport reduced marking turnaround targets. It also supports the University sustainability policy.
2. Project scope
How "big" is the project? Which part(s) of the University are impacted? Different campuses, Colleges / departments only, Services only?
The project impacts on all campuses and all Colleges. There is no direct impact on Professional Services departments
What class of person will be affected and how? Students, Academics, Admin staff?
The project impacts on all students, academic staff and College support staff
Specifically, what is to be included within the scope of the project and what will not be included in this project and why?
In scope:
- Undergraduate and postgraduate assignments
- Summative assignments only
- Essay based assignments only
- Plagiarism checking
- Electronic submission
- Electronic marking
- Electronic feedback
- Integration with VLE and SRS
Out of scope:
- Exams
- Non essay-based assignments
- Formative assignments
- Group work
- Peer marking
3. Objectives
Questions to Consider
What are the objectives of the project? It is sometimes helpful to distinguish between goals and objectives - one goal may have many objectives.
For example, your goal (or aim) may be to "improve the student experience of the registration process". Related to this you may have two objectives (or targets). These form part of your battleplan:
(a) to implement a new on-line registration system;
(b) to implement an on-line advisor facility.
How are you going to measure the achievement of each objective?
Make sure your objectives are SMART:
- Specific
- Measureable/Manageable
- Achievable/Attainable
- Realistic/Relevant
- Timely/Time-bound
Include mention of all the benefits that will be gained if the objectives are achieved. For example, the benefit of the above example (apart from improving the student experience) may be that you could process more students with less Registry staff. Other benefits might include:
- more efficient processes
- saved staff time
- improved awareness
- saved money
- reduced risk
- increased capacity
The goal of the project is to improve the NSS scores for student assessment and feedback.
The objectives are listed on the table below
Objective / Benefit / MeasureTo improve the student experience of the assessment project / Improve institution ranking / NSS score
To streamline assessment process / More efficient process
Save staff time / Savings of admin staff time
To support reduced turnaround times / Improve student feedback experience / Measure turnaround
To reduce printing / Save money
Reduce risk of lost assignments / Measure printing costs
4. Project costs
Although the costs are only estimates at this stage, they should be as accurate as possible since approval of the proposal implies approval of the budget (or approval to be passed to a higher authority).
Financial
Whole Life Costing should be included (normally Year Zero to Year Four) and should include both VAT and inflation.
The source of funding should be included in this section if known.
Make sure you include a contingency - as a guideline, an additional 10% of the estimated total costs.
Item / Year 0 / Year 1 / Year 2 / Year 3 / Year 4 / TotalSource of Funding
Software licenses
Implementation services
Annual maintenance
Hardware
Systems software
Staff
Other (detail)
Contingency (10%)
Total
Resources
Comment on whether there are, or are likely to be, any issues in obtaining the commitment of staff for the Project Team or to provide on-going support for the system.
Project Resources may include: Project Manager, Project Team, Workstreams, Training, Management (Board)
Ongoing resources may include:Technical support, Training
The estimated staff roles and commitment are as follows:
Project Board (stakeholders)– to meet monthly:
Role / Name / School/ServiceChair and Project Sponsor
Project Manager
Supplier
Customer
Customer
Supplier
Customer
Supplier / Quality and Enhancement
STEM College representative
HASS College representative
IT representative
Student representative
System Supplier representative
Project Workstream(s):
Role / NameChair / Project Manager
Member
Member
Member / Lead supplier
Head of eLearning
Local IT support
Project staff commitment is estimated as follows:
Project Role / Days required or % of time / Timescale required wks / Commitment agreed?Project Sponsor / 5% / 52
Project Manager / 80% / 52 / Y
Supplier
Customer
Project Team:-
Member
Member
Member
Work stream - Procurement
Training Resource
Management
On-going staff commitment is estimated as follows:
Project Role / Days required or % of time / Timescale required wks / Commitment agreed?System Administrator / 10% / 52 / Y
Technical Support / 50% / 52 / Y
Training Resource / 50% / 52 / Y
5. Critical timings
Include an estimated timeline showing all the significant milestones. Highlight any that are critical and the reasons why.
Make sure you consult with stakeholders to get their opinions on timings. When collecting estimates, make sure the stakeholders take into account their existing daily workload and any other commitment (e.g. holidays) and get an accurate assessment of when they could start on the project.
As with the costs, a contingency of 10% should be added to each stage of the project.
Include any risks and/or consequences of not doing the project now.
The following are the risks of not carrying out this project now:
- Will not be able to undertake preparatory tasks which are essential precursors to the development work.
- Colleges would have insufficient time to prepare for the process change at the start of the academic year
- Students will need to be told in advance how they are expected to submit assignments
- Staff will need to be trained in the use of the system
- College handbooks and policy documentation will need to be reviewed and updated before the start of the academic year
The following are the critical deadline(s) that the project must meet to achieve the required delivery date of the start of the academic year:
- Mapping and documenting processes – December 2010
- Functional specification – January 2011
- Technical specification – January 2011
- Software evaluation / procurement - February 2011
- Technical development / implementation – March 2011
- Evaluation and initial pilot – May 2011
- Training and awareness – September 2011
6. Other considerations
Are there any dependencies for this project? There is no need to include the obvious - "This project depends on the funding and staff being made available"
Is there anything that needs to be done before the project can be initiated? What circumstances need to exist for this project to go ahead?
Are there any other projects, underway or planned, that are related to this project? If so, how?.
APPENDIX A - Project Prioritisation
Categorisation / ATakes priority over all other projects
Do this now / B
Takes priority over Cs.
May delay if there are resource/capacity constraints / C
Good to do if we have the capacity
Critical criteria / Risk of not doing / The institution operation will fail if we did not do this. Significant reputational risk. / The institution operation become less efficient if we did not do this but there are possible workarounds / We would not sense much difference to the core institution operation if we did not do this
Timing / Has a critical deadline – either internal (eg do by beginning of term) or external (a legal obligation) / Timescales can be slipped / Not time dependent
££ saved / Saves money / Improves efficiency but does not save money / Might improve efficiency but does not save money
Compliance / A legal requirement / Regulatory compliance eg HEFCE / Needed to comply with institution regulations
Benefit / A benefit that goes across the institution / A benefit that is College/service based / A benefit that is College/service based
Business Priority / It meets with the institution’s current strategy/metrics / It contributes to the institution aspirations
Dependency / A key building block – other projects need this / A helpful building block but not critical / A stand alone system
Funding / Already has funding / Needs to apply for funding / Needs to apply for funding
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